


The Celestial Stapler

by Kalloway



Category: Final Fantasy VIII
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-24
Updated: 2019-02-24
Packaged: 2019-11-04 20:05:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 499
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17904755
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kalloway/pseuds/Kalloway
Summary: Squall can't sleep.





	The Celestial Stapler

**Author's Note:**

> For FFVIII 100 (to 500, lol). "2am" Originally posted September 26, 2015.

After thrashing around for the better part of an hour, unsure if he was too hot, too cold, hungry, thirsty, or just not tired, Squall crawled out of bed and pulled on a cleanish set of clothing. If he couldn't sleep, he'd at least try to do something useful with his time. It wouldn't be his first 2AM paperwork-a-thon, after all. Eventually he'd remember to bring a ream from his inbox to his quarters with him.

Closing his eyes, Squall felt inward for Shiva and Alexander to make sure neither GF needed anything. But they were both fine, if not a bit drowsy, and Squall was fairly sure they were going to munch on his ruminations on bringing work back with him so it'd never actually happen.

Garden was quiet, at least. He could hear the soft cries of a group of older students out on night exercises as he walked past the Training Center. They'd be in good hands - he didn't need to supervise.

The cafeteria was deserted, as was the library. As he walked and finally considered heading towards his office, he started to wonder if, aside from the people scheduled to be up and awake, he was the only one who couldn't sleep. Normally, if he went wandering, he ran into someone who would at least be willing to play a few games of Triple Triad against him despite knowing they'd probably lose.

"Squall?"

There, near the front entrance, was Xu, dressed down in what were quite possibly her pajamas.

"Xu?"

"Stargazing," Xu said as Squall walked over to her. "It's so quiet tonight and I couldn't sleep..."

"Oh..." Squall hadn't, even when passing through areas where he could have looked up, looked up. The sky above was painted in stars - more beautiful than Squall could ever remember seeing them. But... Well, that wasn't worth commenting on.

He sat down beside Xu, quiet in the dark.

"I wish I knew more than a handful of constellations," Xu admitted after a long moment. "I've been... making up my own."

Squall blinked. He wasn't sure he knew any - he could navigate by the moon and possibly find the star that supposedly always stayed to the north. But...

"Like what?" he questioned as he leaned back a bit more.

"That one," Xu said, pointing, "is Zell Eating A Hot Dog. Beside it is the Celestial Stapler."

Squall could almost see the stapler, but he wasn't sure about Zell.

And then he looked and realized-- "Over there... Under that bright one, it's sort of a spiral..."

"Space Snail?" Xu suggested. She laughed, softly. So did Squall, who didn't think he'd ever known this side of Xu existed. It was nice, and he liked it, and while he vowed to borrow a book on the stars from the library in the morning, he didn't think he'd ever be able to see anything other than the Celestial Stapler and Space Snail.

Just maybe, too, Zell Eating a Hot Dog. If he squinted.


End file.
